History Series: The Curtiss Fledgling

Following the early success of the Queen Bee, RC vehicle research began getting more attention and funding. In the 1920s, the U.S. Navy developed the Curtiss Fledgling, a trainer aircraft with the pilot and instructor sitting in tandem. The UAV was initially supposed to be crewed, however, it was redesigned by the US Army Air Forces in the next decade to be radio-controlled from an operator on a crewed aircraft that flew alongside the Curtiss. They used the UAV as a practice target for AA gunmen.